Bayern Munich Stay on Top
November 21, 2004![](https://static.dw.com/image/1402849_800.webp)
Wolfsburg, which needed a win to move to first place after Bayern beat Kaiserlautern 3-1 on Saturday, took the lead after an early goal by Thomas Brdaric.
But Hamburg hit back with goals from Daniel van Buyten and Sergej Barbarez, followed by a third goal by Bernardo Romeo during injury-time.
Wolfsburg are now in second place on 27 points, ahead of Schalke 04 on goals scored following their 3-0 win away to Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, Reuters news agency reported.
In Sunday's other match, Hanover 96 drew 1-1 at FC Nuremberg.
On Saturday, title contenders like Schalke and Stuttgart didn't want to lose track of those at the front of the pack. Both squads bounced back from defeats last week to stay in the hunt. Only champions Werder Bremen took a serious blow to defending their title, losing 2-1 in Bielefeld. Hanover could pull even with fourth-place Stuttgart with a Sunday win.
Bayern Munich found themselves fall behind early against 15th-place Kaiserslautern when Thomas Riedl knocked in the rebound of a hard shot that Bayern keeper Oliver Kahn deflected. Just four minutes later though, Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro knotted up the game, 1-1. Torsten Frings put the Bavarians in the lead in the 26th minute. Super sub striker Paolo Guerrero put the icing on the cake of a great week for him by tallying the 3-1 in the 64th minute. On Wednesday, he scored for Peru in a World Cup qualifier.
Schalke tightened their grip on third-place (27 points) with a surprisingly easy 3-0 win over Leverkusen who are falling more and more behind the top teams. Schalke's strikers had a great day. Ebbe Sand put Schalke ahead in the 27th minute. Ten minutes leader, last year's goal scoring king, Ailton, tallied the 2-0 and Lincoln, who has thrived under new coach Ralf Rangnick, finsihed up the scoring in the second-half.
Kuranyi scores game winner for Stuttgart
Stuttgart, meanwhile, squeaked by 14th-place Mönchengladbach on a Kevin Kuranyi goal in the 57th minute. Kuranyi scored in Wednesday's national friendly against Cameroon and carried the good performance over to Saturday's match. A well-playing Kuranyi is something that coach Matthias Sammer will need if Stuttgart is to be in championship race come May.
Promoted-side Bielefeld put another chink in the armor of defending champion Bremen, winning 2-1 in possibly the most thrilling match of the day. Bremen clearly dictated the action in the first-half, but saw themselves fall behind in the 45th minute on a Fatmir Vata goal set up South African striker Delron Buckley. That opened up the game in the second-half as Bremen sought to equalize.
But it was Bielefeld that struck again in the 77th minute. Seemingly knocked out and playing so in the next few minutes, Bremen pulled back to within one, when Ivan Klasnic hammered home a shot in the 83rd minute. Some furious moments in the Bielefeld box almost spelled doom for the home side, but luck was not on Bremen's side as they lost 2-1. Bielefeld find themselves hovering up into sixth-place on 23 points, while Bremen drop down to eighth on 21.
Mainz back on winning track
Mainz were the team who benefited from the Bremen loss and moved into seventh-place, winning 1-0 against a Bochum side (11 points) that must seriously fight relegation now. Antonio da Silva scored the lone goal in the match and Mainz, also in the second division last year, finds themselves with 22 points. That was certainly something the German soccer experts didn't reckon with at the start of this season.
Joining Bochum in the fight against relegation are Freiburg and Rostock. Freiburg lost to Dortmund, 2-0. Volker Finke's squad has just 10 points in 14 matches. Rostock gave up the tying goal in injury time against Berlin and were unable to present their new coach, Jörg Berger, with a victory. Rostock is in last place on 9 points.